Arthur J. Colgan Biography


	This biography appears on pages 505-506 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				ARTHUR J. COLGAN. 

	Arthur J. Colgan is a well known merchant of Edgemont, owning a 
general store and specializing in ranch supplies, and he also holds 
title to much real estate in that city. He was born at Burlington, 
Iowa, on the 25th of July, 1866, a son of Thomas and Mary (Colgan) 
Colgan, both of whom were natives of County Cavan, Ireland. They were 
married on the Emerald isle and about 1853 emigrated to the United 
States, locating first in Pennsylvania, whence about 1854 they removed 
to Iowa. The father, who was engaged in railroad construction work west 
of Ottumwa, resided with his family in Burlington until about 1860, 
when a removal was made to Ottumwa, where he engaged in the hotel 
business and also conducted a feed yard. Six or seven years later when 
the railroad was built farther west, he held the construction contract 
to Monroe county and did the work to the satisfaction of the company. 
He removed to that county and lived there upon a farm until 1879, when 
he went to O'Neill, Nebraska, and became the owner of a farm about a 
mile from that place. He resided there for five years, or until 1885, 
and then sold out and returned to Ireland. Two years later, however, he 
again came to America and from that time until his death made his home 
with the subject of this review in Oelrichs, South Dakota. He was 
seventy six years old at the time of his demise and had survived his 
wife for many years, as she passed away in Iowa when thirty-nine years 
of age. 

	Arthur J. Colgan attended school in Ottumwa, Iowa, and also in 
Monroe county, that state. When twenty years of age he went to 
southwestern Nebraska with his brother and engaged in railroad 
construction as a contractor, which business he followed from 1877 
until 1882. At the end of that time he was married and took up a claim 
near O'Neill, Nebraska, and while proving up thereon also engaged in 
the implement business. Two years later he went to Valentine, Nebraska, 
and accepted a position in a hardware store there. After a year he 
turned his attention to the restaurant and hotel business, in which he 
continued until 1886, when he took up his residence in the vicinity of 
Oelrichs, South Dakota, and engaged in ranching until 1889. In that 
year he established a general store in Oelrichs and in 1900 he founded 
a store at Edgemont. Two years later he became a resident of the latter 
place and disposed of his store at Oelrichs. He carries all kinds of 
ranch supplies and does an extensive business, occupying two store 
buildings, one twenty-four by one hundred and twenty feet in 
dimensions, the other sixty by sixty-five feet, and also two warehouses 
for the storing of his stock. He knows the kind of goods best adapted 
for use on a ranch and is able to supply all of the demands of his 
customers, many of whom have patronized his store for a number of 
years. The reasonableness of his prices and his honorable business 
methods, together with the high quality of his goods, insure him 
continued success. He owns considerable ranch property and also holds 
title to real estate in Edgemont. He has invested in the electric light 
plant, is a stockholder in the Edgemont Fair Association and president 
of the Edgemont Telephone Company, and is recognized as one of the 
representative men of his community. 

	Mr. Colgan was married in 1882 to Miss Ella Stack, who was born 
in Monroe county, Iowa, a daughter of Edward and Ellen (Cotter! Stack. 
Her family removed from Iowa to Belleville, Kansas, in 1879 and 
continued to reside there until after the father,s demise. The mother 
and her children then went to Hastings, Nebraska, where she was living 
when called to her final rest. The father was a farmer by occupation 
and was highly esteemed wherever known. Mr. and Mrs. Colgan have become 
the parents of six children: Thomas, at home, who is bookkeeper for his 
father; Nellie, the wife of Dr. A. H. Thornton, of Edgemont; Edward, 
who is manager of the dry-goods and men's furnishings department of his 
father's business; Charles, who died in January, 1913, at the age of 
twenty-five years; Mary, manager of the ladies, department of her 
father's store; and Arthur Leonard, who is connected with the clothing 
department. 

	Mr. Colgan is a democrat and was for three years county 
commissioner and for fourteen years clerk of the school board, while he 
has been a member of the town council for a number of years. For one 
term he represented the forty-sixth district in the state legislature 
and in all of his official service has been conscientious and able, his 
public record being a distinctly creditable one, His religious faith is 
that of the Catholic church and fraternally he is connected with the 
Knights of Columbus, the Woodmen of the World, the Royal Neighbors and 
the Elks. He is typically a western man, imbued with that spirit of 
faith in the future, that willingness to take the initiative and that 
boundless energy that typifies the west.